The most assiduous task of parenting is to divine the difference between boundaries and bondage. Barbara Kingsolver More Quotes by Barbara Kingsolver More Quotes From Barbara Kingsolver Literature is one of the few kinds of writing in the world that does not tell you what to buy, want, see, be, or believe. It's more like conversation, raising new questions and inspiring you to answer them for yourself. Barbara Kingsolver writingbelievemoving Because I write fiction that is based in the real world, it's going to lead people into some of the modern dilemmas and concerns and even catastrophes that they will think about in a new way. Barbara Kingsolver realwritingthinking Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember. Barbara Kingsolver forgivenesschangemoving Libraries are the one American institution you shouldn't rip off. Barbara Kingsolver libraryripbook I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written. Barbara Kingsolver readingwritingbook Our holiday food splurge was a small crate of tangerines, which we found ridiculously thrilling after an eight-month abstinence from citrus.... Lily hugged each one to her chest before undressing it as gently as a doll. Watching her do that as she sat cross-legged on the floor one morning in pink pajamas, with bliss lighting her cheeks, I thought: Lucky is the world, to receive this grateful child. Value is not made of money, but a tender balance of expectation and longing. Barbara Kingsolver foodmorningchildren To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid. A nation of amnesiacs, proceeding as if there were no other day but today. Assuming the land could also forget what had been done to it. Barbara Kingsolver landstupidthinking ...prodigal summer, the season of extravagant procreation. It could wear out everything in its path with its passionate excesses, but nothing alive with wings or a heart or a seed curled into itself in the ground could resist welcoming it back when it came. Barbara Kingsolver summerheartwings He was my father. I own half his genes, and all of his history. Believe this: the mistakes are part of the story. I am born of a man who believed he could tell nothing but the truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible. Barbara Kingsolver mistakebelievefather There was a roaring in my ears and I lost track of what they were saying. I believe it was the physical manifestation of unbearable grief. Barbara Kingsolver trackgriefbelieve Don't wait for the muse. She has a lousy work ethic. Writers just write. Barbara Kingsolver work-ethicwaitingwriting Many of us who aren't farmers or gardeners still have some element of farm nostalgia in our family past, real or imagined: a secret longing for some connection to a life where a rooster crows in the yard. Barbara Kingsolver realsecretpast Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used. Barbara Kingsolver determineusedworld The changes we dread most may contain our salvation. Barbara Kingsolver salvationchangemay There were two things about Mama. One is she always expected the best out of me. And the other is that then no matter what I did, whatever I came home with, she acted like it was the moon I had just hung up in the sky and plugged in all the stars. Like I was that good. Barbara Kingsolver starsmoonhome Even feigning surprise, pretending it was unexpected and saying a ritual thanks, is surely wiser than just expecting everything so carelessly. Barbara Kingsolver miraclevegetablesanimal Memories do not always soften with time; some grow edges like knives. Barbara Kingsolver knivesnovelistsmemories How pointless life could be, what a foolish business of inventing things to love, just so you could dread losing them. Barbara Kingsolver losingfoolishloss I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room. Barbara Kingsolver learningtryinginspirational You can be as earnest and ridiculous as you need to be, if you don't attempt it in isolation. The ridiculously earnest are known to travel in groups. And they are known to change the world. Barbara Kingsolver groupsworldneeds
